Sewing with SINGER® and The Martha Stewart Show: Reviving Vintage Garments with the Girls from Some Odd Rubies

How many times have you stumbled on a gorgeous vintage print, only to find that the garment itself looks like your great grandmother’s muumuu? Summer Phoenix and Ruby Canner, the girls behind Some Odd Rubies vintage clothing store in NYC, have come to the rescue to show you how to revamp a frumpy second-hand find into a fabulous new piece on this segment of The Martha Stewart Show. For this project the girls show you step-by-step how to take a vintage skirt and rework that outdated shape into an adorable and modern silhouette using one of the new Heavy Duty sewing machines from SINGER®. With a few simple steps and quick stitches, you can have a whole new look!

So tell us, do you prefer making projects from scratch or altering second-hand garments into new pieces? Leave your comments here by 9am EST on Monday, January 31st for your chance to win a SINGER® Dress Form! And don’t forget, you only have four days to comment to win a brand new SINGER® sewing machine, a SINGER® Home Essentials™ Expert Finish™ Iron or a SINGER® Home Essentials™ SteamWorks™ Pro Iron! Winners of all of the how-to Martha Stewart video series will be posted Feb. 1st on the BurdaStyle blog and in our newsletter, so leave your comment on the other posts for your chance to win!

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390 Comments

Definitely from scratch. The fun of picking the pattern and the fabric, the whole process of making the piece, then the reward at the end of having something that is unique, and the pride in knowing that YOU made it for you and that there is no other like it :)

I usually tend to make garments from scratch after being inspired by a fabric or pattern, but I never pass up an opportunity to revamp an old piece of clothing! Vintage finds that may be a bit out-dated or not fit well just need a little TLC to make it brand new :)

I like all types of creative sewing, so it is hard to pick a favorite. Altering second hand is really satisfying to know you’ve created something wearable out of something that’s original shape potentially wasn’t for you. Choosing fabric and completing an item from scratch is also a wonderful feeling! I’d be wary of remaking a true vintage item for fear of messing it up. I like to wear vintage pieces as originally intended, with only necessary mending and slight alterations like adjusting a hem line.

I do a mix of both, especially since I’m on a budget. I recently cleaned out my closets and found some things from high school! Although the designs are very dated, some pieces had great fabric, like burnout velvet and silk. Then again, I love finding great remnant fabrics at a reduced price and keeping them in my stash until I find a good use for them.

I got my start altering vintage/unused/resale pieces. And its still my favorite thing to do. Working from scratch is fun, but theres something about watching the transformation of something from old to new that really takes the cake :) … and who doesn’t love cake!

It’s definitely both for me. Making something from scratch is much more of an “okay I want to make this garment” and going at it. Reworking a vintage piece is much more like a puzzle, and always ends up taking me so much longer than if I made the garment from scratch. It’s worth it though!

Since I’m such a beginner, I love to reconstruct garments. Taking them apart gives me a hands-on lesson on how they’re put together in the first place. The first real, wearable thing I ever sewed was a major alteration on the cast t-shirts for my high school musical. Since we were allowed to wear it as part of our uniform, I got an XXL and radically altered it using only the extra fabric I cut off it. It was excellent, for a couple months I had the best uniform piece in school. I think after I improve my sewing skills I’ll turn more towards creating garments from scratch, (I’m trying to learn more about knits right now) but right now I see more inspiration in a butt ugly skirt or a plainly cut top than a pile of fabric.

i tend to make more clothes from scratch. i used to buy some vintage clothes to re-work into something wearable, but they usually ended up half-finished on my to-do pile. after this tutorial i will definitely try again!

09/2017

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